ED files fresh charge sheet in Mahadev app case

NEW DELHI/RAIPUR: In a money laundering case investigation connected to alleged unlawful betting and gaming through the Mahadev online book app, the Enforcement Directorate has submitted a new charge sheet before a special court in Raipur, official sources said on Thursday.

The federal agency will share this second prosecution complaint (charge sheet) with authorities in Dubai to secure either the deportation or extradition of the two main promoters of the app— Ravi Uppal and Sourabh Chandrakar, they said.

The two were recently detained in Dubai on the basis of an Interpol red notice issued against them at the behest of the ED. The agency is understood to have shared the contents of the first charge sheet with the UAE authorities, on the basis of which a non-bailable warrant was secured against the two leading to issuance of the Interpol red notice (RN).

The about 1,700-1,800 page fresh charge sheet was filed on January 1 and five accused, including alleged cash courier Aseem Das, police constable Bheem Singh Yadav, Shubham Soni, a prominent executive linked to the app, among others have been named as accused, they said.

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court is expected to take cognisance of the charge sheet on January 10, ED counsel Saurabh Pandey said.

Das and Yadav were arrested by the agency in November, just before the first phase of polling for the assembly polls in Chhattisgarh.

Soni, who had claimed to be the owner of the app, earlier issued a video statement and sent an affidavit to the ED claiming to have “proof” about kickbacks paid to politicians and their linked persons for allowing the app to run its illegal businesses without any legal action. The agency, in its first charge sheet filed before the special PMLA court in Raipur had named Chandrakar and Uppal along with some others.

The agency had earlier said that the alleged illegal funds generated by the app were shared as bribes to politicians and bureaucrats in the state even as it has summoned many celebrities and Bollywood actors for questioning on the mode of payment and their links with the online betting platform.

The projected proceeds

of crime in this case is about

Rs 6,000 crore, according to

the ED.